Triple Delivery
by GrownRose
Summary: Naruto has returned from his three year training trip with Jiraiya. He's sixteen going on seventeen and just as stubborn and pig-headed as ever. This is another of those pesky Kaka/Naru themes that was running round my head driving my brain crazy.


**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Don't own Kakashi. Don't own Sakura either. Nuff said.**

Triple Delivery

Kakashi watched as Naruto made his way away from camp. The boy had been quieter than normal lately and he seemed to be involved in some sort of internal struggle. Something the Copy-nin could have accredited more to anyone who wasn't Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto was the epitome of everything no good ninja was ever supposed to be and yet Kakashi knew the boy was actually one of the best, if not actually the best, ninja of his generation. The kid had a moral streak that was as wide as his body, something that most ninja did their best to avoid having and he had more chakra than any normal three ninja put together making what was for most ninja very difficult ninjutsu easy as pie for him. The kid could literally spit out S rank jutsu after S rank jutsu and not even have to take the time to breathe in between them. He also had stamina that poured from him keeping him a virtual whirlwind of motion for twenty or so hours out of every twenty-four. He literally only required four hours of sleep in any given day. Well, unless he took an injury. Then he would require more and how much more depended upon the severity of the injury. Things like papercuts had no effect whatsoever on him, while life threatening injuries required a coma like state until his body was finished repairing itself which at most seemed only to need a few days.

But while these were good qualities for the most part in any ninja they were all offset by his total randomness. The boy wore the brightest orange he could find and insisted on it no matter how many reason were given him as to why he should change it to something more ninja like. He was loud whenever possible, which for him was whenever he was conscious enough to open his mouth. He rarely if ever thought anything through before he would explode into action or speech. Though Kakashi had to admit in the privacy of his thoughts hindsight had shown more than once that explosiveness was not nearly as random as it had seemed at the time. The kid did seem to know exactly what he was doing and hell, it was the sheer unpredictability of his moves that made his taijutsu style so very devastating to his opponents. He was so random there just was no way to predict his movements and therefore no real way to effectively counter him. You could get lucky and catch him dealing a devastating blow or two but that's all it was. Luck.

And that was another thing about Naruto. The kid had undeniably the best luck in the Elemental Lands. If he was gambling with you, you LOST before you even got the cards dealt. Even if you were dealing and stacking the deck as you did so. Kakashi was still trying to decide if that was a good point or a bad point.

But there were undeniable truths to Uzumaki Naruto as well. When Naruto decided something was right and true there was no dissuading him from what he believed. And when he smiled at you, he made whatever was wrong, right. If Naruto noticed you, than you were among his special people and he would always make time for you no matter what you wanted or thought you wanted. And more than one person had thought all they ever really wanted was for him to go away only to discover while he was gone on that long; impossibly long, Kakashi thought, training trip, they missed him. But the most important truth of all was that if ever the day should come when Naruto was not irrationally loud and boisterous something was really wrong and the longer he went without being annoyingly loud the worse whatever was wrong was.

Kakashi shivered as he watched his blond student leave showing the truth of his stealth abilities in how very quietly he was moving. Kakashi cast a jutsu over the camp to alert him should anything arise requiring his intervention or attention and went after Naruto. He found the blond next to a stream. Naruto had removed his jacket and sweat pants. He sat there on top of his normal clothing wearing only his black skin tight boxer briefs. Though he leaned against a tree for support his legs were bent at the knee with his feet tucked under his butt. This gave the Copy-nin a very clear view of Naruto's crotch, an area he never would have thought to find interesting before. But as a fiery blush rose over his mask and his own body responded to what he was seeing, there was no doubt he was more than a touch interested in what he was seeing. The blond was horny and from the look of it he was horny as all hell.

In a gravelly voice, Naruto said, "You can come out, Sensei. I'm not doing anything wrong. Nor do I plan to."

"I just came to see if there was anything bothering you. You've not been yourself for the last couple of days. It was weirding me out."

"Ah yeah. Well, even the loud get quiet sometimes." Naruto kept his eyes closed fighting his own body on an internal level.

"What exactly got you into this fix? I've never known you to get this worked up over Sakura before," Kakashi said not really thinking about what he was implying with his words.

"Yeah, she wouldn't be enough for this but then she's a simple girl."

Kakashi walked over and sat down next to Naruto. "She's a pretty girl though. You do have good taste in women you know."

"Actually I don't really like her that way. I never have."

Kakashi looked at him sharply. "But all the times. . ."

Naruto growled. "She was dieting, Sensei. She needed to eat more. So long as she was dieting to stay thin, she was endangering the team. And Teme was forever tearing her confidence to ribbons. She didn't need to hear more negativity. I was trying to get her to eat more without just coming out and telling her to go pig out on something." A world of disgust was in his voice as he rolled his eyes under his closed lids causing Kakashi to laugh.

"Damn Boy, is there anything you didn't hide from us all?" he whispered. Kakashi was not gay but right now he was having a very hard time not looking at what was happening inside Naruto's briefs. And what was happening there seemed to be something of a cascade. Damn kid was giving the older nin a very difficult time with his self-control.

"Right now, Sensei, since you know why I left the camp, I suggest you leave me be if you do not wish to be claimed."

"Huh?" Kakashi shifted, slightly, neither towards Naruto nor away from him either.

"It isn't Sakura who is the cause of this." Naruto's hands indicated his problem area. "She never was and she never will be but for the next few months I would suggest if you see me wander off you, let me be."

Kakashi's eyes went wide as Naruto's meaning seeped into his mind. That flush which had receded came back with a vengeance. There might not be a lot of skin showing on the Copy-nin's face but what there was, was no longer pale. It was now cherry red and getting redder. "You mean. . .I'm. . ." He sucked in a breath. "Naruto, I am not gay."

"I never thought you were but Kyuubi doesn't give a flying flip. I personally do not really care for guys or gals but Kyuubi is . . .not as . . .unconcerned as I am. Now get out of here." The last came out as a growl and Kakashi noted Naruto's hands were fisted while his arms were tensed showing he was either really ready to strike out or he was fighting to control his urges. Kakashi stood up and walked back towards the camp.

Behind him, he heard the soft sigh with the muttered "damn," he knew Naruto never meant him to hear. The silver haired man spent the rest of the night thinking about the problem Naruto had revealed to him. Somehow he wasn't disgusted by it like he felt he should be. Other guys had been attracted to him before now and it had always left him feeling like he wanted to seek out the first presentable female and reaffirm his own preference. Not that he did but he wanted to.

The rest of the mission passed in a blur of disinterest for both Kakashi and Naruto. The two of them were too deep into their own worlds to summon any interest in the real world. On auto-pilot they did as they were expected to do, albeit more quietly than normal for Naruto, and neither Sai nor Sakura noticed anything odd in either of them. Kakashi was always quiet and reading one of his perverted novelettes while Naruto was always full of energy and bouncing through the trees. Neither Sai nor Sakura noticed it was only his body that was bouncing around. It was not his mouth and both had known the hyper-active boy long enough they should have noticed that right off the bat.

When they returned to Konoha, Naruto pulled Kakashi aside and bluntly told him, "I am going to go hibernate until this passes. I have to."

"Why? You did fine during the mission. Can't you just get it under control like any other hormonal teenager?"

Naruto gave him a look of deep disgust. "Since when has anything to do with me ever been in the realm of normal, Sensei? This is not a normal hormonal response and you damn well know it unless every horny boy has made you questioned yourself and gotten you hard as well. And don't try to tell me you didn't because my nose is better than yours, remember. I know damn well what you were feeling when you followed me to the stream. If necessary, I can make it happen all over again."

Kakashi flushed and looked away. "Ok. I won't bother denying it. But still it should be normal for you."

"It would be _if_ it actually was mine to begin with but I told you before it isn't. Don't make me tell you again. Now, just say you'll cover for me while I hibernate until Kyu gets it through her head she isn't getting what she wants."

Kakashi nodded and before he could say another word Naruto was gone. He went to the tower and gave his report. His air of distraction must have made an impression though because Tsunade sealed the office and refused to let him leave until he had spilled whatever was on his mind. Still more in a disbelieving trance than aware of what he was really saying, Kakashi filled her in on the under side of the mission.

"Then you have a new mission, Hatake."

"What?"

"I want you to go find him and guard him. There will be people who will try for him while he is hibernating and he is incredibly vulnerable at this time. Jiraiya brought him back here for this event because he hoped whoever the Kyuubi would choose would be acceptable to both the individual and to Naruto himself. I was actually hoping the demon would choose one of the women so we could get offspring from the mating but oh well. Kyuubi chose you and you are unacceptable to Naruto. So you'll do the next best thing and guard your student while he sleeps through the time."

"Never occurred to you I might not find the idea of bedding a demon to be appealing?" Kakashi muttered, resentment and interest vying for dominance in his single visible eye.

"Honestly?" she asked, waiting for some sign from him. "No. You're a male slut so I never figured you'd have much of an issue with the humanity of what you were with."

Kakashi was stung to retort. "I am not! I do not sleep with just anyone. In fact, there are very few women I have slept with. Only . . ." He caught on to what she was doing and snapped his jaw closed while glaring at the now grinning Hokage.

"Get out of here, Hatake. Go find him and either make sure he doesn't _need_ to hibernate at all or _guard_ him while he does. Those are your options for this mission. I will take care of Sakura and Sai while you two are off handling this." Tsunade watched as Kakashi left her office.

She knew from the report Jiraiya had given her what would occur during this time frame. Kakashi would meet the demon's needs or he would answer to her for the repercussions. The choice might be Kyuubi's but the effects of the . . .frenzy?. . .calling?. . .she wasn't sure what to call it. Anyway. Those were Naruto's to deal with. And truthfully she wasn't even sure the choice was Kyuubi's. What she did know for sure was, the longer the need went unanswered the worst the effects would be on the blond. Jiraiya had told her Kyuubi admitted Naruto could die from the need not being met by the one she chose. Something about rebound or recoil. Tsunade didn't fully understand how someone could die of being sexually frustrated but then they weren't talking about a normal human need for sex. This was a damn demon and they didn't exactly go out wench calling every other weekend or so. So maybe it was because Naruto was human and his body was that of a human while the impulse was demonic in nature that caused the issue?

Across town, Kakashi found himself taking a shower and shaving. Two things he normally never did at this time of the day. Sure, they had just returned from a week long mission but still he rarely ever took a shower that wasn't first thing in the morning or last thing at night and he just knew there was no way he was going to bed yet. He snorted as he wiped away the last of his shaving creme and saw his own hand put his bottle of cologne back on the glass shelf. A gentle sniff told him he'd already applied the stuff also. He shook his head still refusing to admit he was preparing himself.

He finished getting himself dressed, refusing to think anymore or even pay attention to what he was doing. He ate quickly as he packed food he liked, as well as things he thought Naruto might like as well, into a scroll along with a few of his books and other things he didn't even want to think about why he was packing. Then with the scroll full of what he thought he might need he left his apartment and sent out a pulse to locate Naruto. Whether he approved of the assignment or not, he had a mission to guard his student and he had never failed any mission he'd done solo before. Damned if he'd start with this one no matter how tempted he was to do so.

He lived in the Northern sector of the village while Naruto lived in the lower East End and he moved off in that direction thinking it was possible the jinchuuriki had gone to ground in his own apartment after doing everything he could think of to convince his sensei he wouldn't be there. But Naruto wasn't there. His apartment was dark and empty though it was clear he'd had visitors while they were gone. The mess his visitors had left, after their party, for him to clean up showed Naruto hadn't even returned to the place. If he had, he would have cleaned his plants up at least. But they were still lying neglected and broken on the floor.

Kakashi would have poofed in and replanted them but Naruto was well known for leaving traps laying around to make intruders pay for their intrusion. Why those traps never seemed to stop the villagers was just one of the mysteries of life to the Copy-nin. He'd seen more than one ninja caught in a non-lethal but definitely devious trap to ever believe they weren't there.

He went all around the village sending out chakra pulses to try and locate Naruto's present location. Finally he got a weak response when he stood atop the Hokage monument. From the strength of the signal Naruto was outside the village. With alarm in his stance, Kakashi took off at his best speed to find and make damn sure his student hadn't already run into trouble. He leapt over the wall not bothering with the gate and the formalities of entering or leaving through the gate. He was too intent on finding and securing his blond student.

Jiraiya and Tsunade watched him run off together. "What do you think, Raiya? Will she let him see her? Will she let him love her?"

"I don't think she will do it willingly. But I do think Kyuubi will force her to. Naruto does not want to believe she is a girl at all. She has been a boy every day of her life and she truly thinks every time she switched into girl mode when she was not doing her sexy jutsu to expose a pervert or perform an infiltration it was because Kyuubi was messing with her."

"But will she let him love her?"

"Physically, hai. She will deny it. She'll fight Kyuubi hard to remain the boy she has been and that will only be partially because she knows Kakashi won't touch a boy that way. But in the end, she won't be able to fight it. She'll become what she was born to be and he will love her because he already wants to and even Naruto knows he does."

"Huh? How do you know that?"

"Naruto told me of course. She's very aware of everything regarding her Sensei and team. She always was. Hell, her very life has always hinged on her awareness of her surroundings. So of course she would know how he feels. He saw the real her a few times before this. Subconsciously he knew he did but consciously he didn't allow himself to believe it. Naruto said he was very attracted to her real form or as she calls it, Kyuubi's girl Naruto version."

"Ok. One more question. Is this really Kyuubi driven desire?"

"Yes and no. Kyuubi is driving it but it's all suppressed desire on Naruto's part. Naruto has wanted that man since she entered puberty when she was eleven. Young for a human but not necessarily for one who's entire life has been lived on the edge as hers has been. She grew up hard and fast so she actually entered puberty earlier than her classmates did. And if her Otousan had a drive like hers, I now fully understand exactly why he never saw anyone but Kushina once he found her. I tried everything I could think of to get Naruto to release at least some of the pressure for herself. As either the boy she believes she is or as the girl she really is. Naruto just can't see anyone but Hatake in that way."

"But she didn't even know him then!" Tsunade was stuck on the fact that Naruto had chosen Kakashi when she was eleven.

"Remember how I said her existence hinged on her awareness? Well, it did and she did know him. She may have escaped his sight back then as just another academy student but she knew and saw him."

"Do you think he can convince her to keep her female form after the . . .rush?. . . is over?"

"You mean will he convince her not to abort their children?" She nodded wondering how he was so sure it would result in children but not wanting to ask since she was already over her one more question limit. "Hai. I think he can. But it depends on if his need and desire for an heir is greater than her need to be the boy she has always been. And that depends on his reaction when she tries to reassume her male form as well as how he treats her in her female form. If he approaches her as if it's just sex like he would with a barmaid all the tea in the world won't get her to stay female. And if he even once lets her think he believes she is Kyuubi nothing will save him." He fell silent and shared a drink of Sake with his old teammate while they shuffled through more pesky forms that had piled up in her office.

Then he said, "You know Kyuubi said if she'd been civilian then it wouldn't have been as big a deal that she pushed this now but it's because she's a ninja that the demon is driving her into revealing and confronting this issue. Naruto thinks he is asexual because he has no real interest in the girls he knows. And he's buried his interest in Kakashi because of what it reveals about herself that she doesn't want to face. But Kyuubi knows the girl could die at any moment even with her amazing healing factor and a demon that doesn't desire death at any cost. And as Kyuubi told me if she dies in denial there will be no saving her soul. She must confront the truth and learn not only to live with it but to be comfortable in her own skin accepting the fact that she is nothing more than a human girl. And that's the truth of why she had me bring the girl home now. Too much longer and Naruto would have grown too strong for Kyuubi to force the change from male to female and this is the only way it was going to happen now. A few more years and even Kyuubi won't be able to convince her to reveal what she doesn't wish to. She really is a strong willed girl. Stronger than either of her parents."

"They would have been very proud of her though. Minato would have been shouting his pride in her from every rooftop and Kushina would have been chasing him every step of the way yelling at him to shut up but making damn sure everyone heard what he thought of his little Naruto."

"Yeah and Minato would have threatened to beat the living tar out of Kakashi if he hurts her over this as well."

"Yeah. Kushina wouldn't have made his life easy either. She would have threatened to use her sword to perform a very delicate surgery for him if he didn't make Naruto happy."

They shared a laugh over the mental image of Minato being chased by a small whirling dervish with red hair and green eyes, both of them grinning like fools and shouting at the top of their lungs, while letting everyone know of their pride in their little girl and looking to corner a certain silver haired male they had pretty much raised as well.

Kakashi found Naruto in a cave twenty miles outside of Konoha and at the edge of their patrol boundaries. He entered the cave not surprised to find the teen laying down. What was surprising was to find Naruto still awake and growling as his form morphed between male and female. Mutters filled the cave and slowly Kakashi made out the words.

"Kyuubi stop it."

"He isn't even here."

"You can't get him this way."

"I don't care. It's not right."

"I am a boy, damn it."

"I am not!"

"Girls are stupid, pathetic and weak."

"I don't care. You aren't going to win this."

"My will is stronger."

"Shut-up."

Each sentence was punctuated with a switch in gender. At the beginning the form was female but by the end it was male again. Back and forth. Kakashi was wishing they would just choose a form and be done with it though he did want to laugh over Naruto's assessment of girls. He was still sure in his mind it didn't matter to him which form Naruto chose to wear. He did have some morals and sleeping with Naruto would cross more than one of them as far as he was concerned. For one, Naruto, as he knew, was fully male. And even if Naruto was gay, Kakashi was not. Second, was the fact that Naruto had told him flat out he'd been chosen for this by the Kyuubi. That told Kakashi Naruto himself did not desire Kakashi in this manner. And therefore knocked reason number one out of the water since it meant Naruto wasn't gay either. And last but not least was the oh-so-very obvious fact that Naruto was his student. He could not sleep with his own student, demon driven pheromones filling the air or not. So he just stayed near the opening of the cave and watched out into the night keeping an ear on what was going on with Naruto at the same time.

The switching game continued for twenty four hours. Towards that mark it was taking longer and longer for Naruto to switch back to the male form though the start of the change was immediate upon the realization that he was once more exposed as a girl. Finally, Kyuubi let the kid rest but then in total aggravation the demon growled at the Copy-nin.

"**Would you quit being an ignorant damn fool and help me here before this girl kills the both of us denying the Kami damned truth? Uncover that blasted eye and look at her. For once in her life, look at **_**her**_**."**

"I have looked at Naruto, Kyuubi. Naruto is a boy. He always has been." Kakashi felt no need to give the demon any aid in undermining Naruto's will power.

"**You IDIOT! Naruto was hidden in a henge from the beginning by the Shinigami to keep her safe as the life of female vessels more often ends in insanity as well as early. Think back. You carried the child to Yondaime. What color blanket did the babe have? Pink or Blue, Fool?"**

"Well pink but with you attacking I just thought it was the first one that came to hand or something." If Kyuubi could have she would have been slamming her head against the bars of her cage. Men! No matter what the race or species. They were all idiots.

"**How many days was the woman in labor? And you think in all that time no one would have been able to find a blue blanket just in case the babe was a boy? She was wrapped in a pink blanket because she was a girl! **_**Idiotic Kami damned Fool of a ninja too blind to know the difference between boys and girls. How the hell did someone this stupid ever become so Kami damned well known and respected? And he has the freaking nerve to say Naruto is blind and dense. Sheesh What the hell does that make him? Ignorant flea bag human."**_

Kyuubi continued to rant but Kakashi was getting the message and uncovered his sharingan eye. He wasn't sure if he was being tricked or not but he also knew from experience his sharingan would tell him which form was Naruto's true form. He gazed upon the reclined figure of Naruto, wonderingly. There was no shimmer that would have marked a genjutsu henge but then there never had been one. Had there? He'd never really looked at Naruto with his sharingan active. It was possible, he supposed. But still. . .Naruto had told him this drive was demon driven and he was chosen by the demon. Not by Naruto.

"Tell me, Kyuubi. Who is behind this need that has my student lying here in a cave rather than in her own bed in the village? Is this your desire to claim another one of us fleshbags as I've heard Naruto say you call us? And as Naruto has told me it is? Are you the one that chose me?"

"**No. Against my better wishes she chose you herself when she was eleven. I've been trying to talk her out of it. I'd rather she settle with that nice calm Nara boy but she won't hear of it. And why the hell would I, the ruler of the demon realm, see anything remotely sexual in my dinner? Do you find yourself wanting to have sex with a cow or a pig? As for who is behind her being here instead of her bed, that's more complicated."**

Kakashi had to admit he never once thought about his food in such a way, either when it was still alive and moving under it's own power or dead and skinned. Certainly not by the time it finally made it onto his plate or bowl. And he did know that to the demons humans were food just as much as cows and pigs were food for humans. So therefore Naruto had tricked him again. The desire behind the drive was hers. His? No hers, he determined.

"Explain please." Kakashi entered the cavern and sat down on his heels next to the reclined Naruto. The teen was tossing and turning in her rest, groaning and mumbling but still resting and conserving her energy for another round of form fights with her internal demon. Kakashi couldn't help but reach out a hand and smooth her hair out of her face, wiping the sweat from her forehead while he was at it. His fingers traced her whiskers and ghosted over her lips which she parted on a soft sigh as he did so.

As Kyuubi explained to him what was really going on, Kakashi continued to tease and tantalize this form of Naruto's. He had to admit he did not find himself adverse to lying with her but damn it he wanted her awake and accepting of him before he made a single move towards claiming her. His fingers ghosted towards her breasts in spite of himself.

"All right, Kyuubi. I'll admit it. I want her but I will only claim her if she admits she wants this also. I will not have her claiming later that I forced her."

"**She won't. She's too honest for that. But that doesn't mean she won't hate herself. She will. Because she truly doesn't believe she is a girl at all. It's up to you to convince her she is because she will get pregnant from this. She's repressed it for too long not to. If you don't convince her to remain in her true form once this has passed it will be the death of your children but also of her rebirth."**

"Then what you're saying is she isn't ready for this. Her female form may know she wants this but because she believes she is a boy she really doesn't want it or me."

Kyuubi growled. Damn Humans! What the hell did she have to do here? For once she wished she really could take control of Naruto while the kit slept but she couldn't. All she could do was wake the kit and let what happened happen.

"**I wish I could slap you right now but the Kit would get ticked if I did,"** she growled instead. Kakashi just smirked and waited for Naruto to awaken.

It was a pleasant surprise when Naruto opened her eyes and saw Kakashi leaning over her. "Kashi," she whispered almost moaning.

"I'm here, Naruto," he said. "Tell me what you want." Actually he could smell what she wanted. The scent was driving him crazy. But he meant it. He wouldn't force her. For once something important in her life was going to be her choice. Her real choosing. The time of her birth was not her choice. Her Kaasan dying birthing her was not her choosing. Her Otousan dying slamming the Kyuubi into the seal was not her choosing. Having a genjutsu henge cast on her to hide her was not her choosing. Going to the academy was not her choosing. Becoming a ninja was not her choosing. All had been done to her. Well except the last two but those had been done for her. This time she was going to choose.

Naruto had awoken prepared to battle Kyuubi for his form again but seeing her Sensei leaning over her drove all thought of her true form from her mind. Her eyes went wide as a spike of lust drove through her body, surprising a cry from her before she regained control enough to feel his hand grasping and kneading her breast. "Sensei. . ." she panted, arching her back and thrusting her breast more firmly into his hand.

"I'm here, Naruto. I'm here. Girl or boy, Naruto. You have to decide."

Kyuubi was damned if she would let the kit answer that question right now. Damn the man. She sent another spike of lust coiling through the girl driving her desire for him higher and leaving the kit panting and keening as it passed and driving the Copy-nin nearly out of his own skin from the scent of it.

Holy shit, he thought. This is what she's been repressing? Damn. Girl is stronger than I am. He unzipped and removed her jacket. The muscle shirt she wore under it held next to no secrets for her as her breasts pushed against the fabric, darkening the pink unbound nipples and showing him quite clearly how perfect they were. Groaning he lowered his head and nuzzled at them leaving slightly damp splotches behind. He wasn't even aware of when he had removed his mask. She buried her hands in his hair, curling into him and thrusting her breast more firmly into his mouth, silently begging for more of what he was giving her. He pulled the tee shirt out of her waistband and let his hands land on her smooth skin. Slowly he pushed it up and as he removed it from her body, he asked her, "Do you want me, Naruto? In this form? Will you be my woman? Will you let me be your man?" His body ached for her to tell him she would but he also knew it wouldn't be this easy. She had been denying this for a long time now and he knew she was stubborn. There was no way she would give in this easily.

He was right much to his own aggravation. Her eyes flashed open as his words penetrated the fog. She growled but her hands stayed clenched on his arms as she fought inside her own mind. He saw her form blur and steady several times. Sweat beaded on her forehead and he knew she and the Kyuubi were having one hell of a battle over the issue but eventually Kyuubi won. It didn't hurt that Kakashi had never stopped letting his hands wander and divest her of her clothing so he could explore her body more fully. He wasn't exactly sure why he was helping the Kyuubi force her into this but he did know he wanted to lie with her and he wanted her now.

She finally gave in when his fingers found her entrance. She hadn't even been aware when she spread her legs for his questing fingers, too deep in the fight with Kyuubi over her form to care what was happening but when he slipped two fingers inside she gasped and her awareness flew to him. She stilled and a questioning look flowed across her features. He pumped his fingers watching her closely. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. He did it again, slipping a third finger inside her opening and letting them sink as deeply in as they could go. She panted and bucked her hips as he began to draw them out again. He pulled them out before sending them back inside before sliding up to grab her mouth and kiss her deeply. He mimicked the action of his fingers with his tongue as her nails raked his skin and her legs lifted to wrap around his hips urging him on. "Do you want me, Naruto?" He growled at her really needing her verbal answer. "Can I claim you now?"

She keened and arched under him as she answered him. "Hai. I want you, Hatake Kakashi." She bore down on his fingers and clenched around them tightly causing him to moan and pant as the action drove his own need spiraling higher.

He wasted no more time. He could get her to admit he was her man next time but for now he wanted to claim her. He needed to claim her. And once she was his he could work on getting her to stay a girl for him.

Back in the village, Tsunade and Jiraiya were wondering how it was going between the two but other than waiting for them to return home there was nothing either of them could do about it. All either one could hope for was that Kakashi would prove to be more experienced than Naruto knew how to counter and between him and the centuries old demon they would prevail but Minato had known what he was doing when he chose Naruto to contain Kyuubi. And both Sennin knew the girl/boy was incredibly stubborn and hard headed.

When Sakura found out what was going on they had a long chat with her about things she'd been too blind and obsessed to see. She came blazing into the tower obviously disgruntled and ready to do battle with anyone.

"Why is Naruto taking a vacation now? He's been on a freaking vacation for three freaking years now. He promised to help me get Sasuke-kun back. How we gonna do that if he's always off on vacation? And what's Kaka-Sensei going to say about it? He wants Sasuke-kun back too."

"Sakura, tell me when was the last time you ever heard Kakashi mention Sasuke's name? When did he ever say he wanted the two of you to keep chasing the Uchiha? You know I've wondered about that and been racking my brain over it and I can't remember ever hearing that from his lips once since he returned carrying a wounded and nearly dead Naruto. And I know all too well what leaves Naruto nearly dead is more than enough to kill anyone else. But even when he took off after them I did not hear him say it was for Sasuke. The name that spilled from him even then was Naruto."

"That was just because he knew Naruto was gonna screw things up and he was right. The baka did screw things up. He hurt himself and let Sasuke-kun go. But he's back from his training trip now and we're supposed to be getting ready to go get Sasuke-kun before it's too late and Orochimaru has a chance to take him over."

Jiraiya had jumped into the conversation before Tsunade could hit the teen for saying Naruto hurt himself. "Naruto can't do a chidori, Sakura. He did not pour a thousand volts of electricity into his own body via an assassination technique known only to Kakashi and Sasuke And since Kakashi would never use it against his own student. . . I however don't really care what you believe. You never have believed in Naruto."

But all Sakura heard was that Kakashi had believed her precious Sasuke would try to kill Naruto. "Oh, come on. Sensei wouldn't think that of Sasuke-kun. He knows Sasuke-kun was only acting under duress. It was the curse seal thinking for him and driving him to leave here. Once he's home and safe again he'll be back to normal. And why should killing Naruto benefit him in any way. Naruto's just an idiot who not only never will be a proper ninja he doesn't even know how to be one. Kaka-sensei never even bothered to train him so why would he care if Sasuke-kun beat Naruto again?"

Tsunade had heard more than enough. "Shut-up. I've heard more than enough out of you. As for Kakashi not believing Sasuke would kill Naruto, he knows damn well that brat will do just that if he ever gets powerful enough. He witnessed Sasuke try before the Valley or did you forget the Hospital Roof fight between the two? Kakashi stopped that fight because he knew Sasuke was going for the kill while Naruto wasn't. Kakashi loves Naruto, you fool. He always has. That's why he always knew exactly where Naruto was and what he was doing. That's why when things were dangerous, and Naruto could have gotten hurt, he tried to leave him where he thought he'd be safe and out of the way. He didn't _want _Naruto to get hurt. Ever."

"But. . .that's. . ." Sakura was trying to wrap her mind around the idea that her sensei might be gay. She was having a hard time with it. She knew he really did read those books and they were the gay kind. "Sensei isn't gay, Shishui. He's as straight as a board. As I am."

"Hai, he is. Which is why what's happening now is necessary. Neither Naruto nor Kakashi were letting things happen as they should have but the Naruto you knew was a false Naruto and instinctively Kakashi has always known that. Naruto is the one that was in denial over it. So they are on vacation while Kakashi convinces Naruto to be herself for the rest of her life."

Sakura collapsed into a chair in full blown shock. "Nani," she whispered questioningly.

"Naruto is a girl. She always has been but when Kyuubi was slammed behind the seal on her belly even the Shinigami knew what her life would be like if he left her alone like that so he hid her. It should have come out years ago but Naruto didn't want to admit it and every time the Shinigami's henge began to break and slide away, she strengthened it," said Jiraiya.

He added. "According to what I have been able to discover there's an agreement between the Shinigami and the demons to the effect that if ever a demon is about to be sealed into a human girl child the Shinigami will henge the girl into a boy to protect the child until it can grow up enough to protect itself from that particular form of attack. I'm not at all sure why the Gods would care enough to make that kind of deal but then I don't claim to understand the mind of the Gods either. Anyway, Naruto's should have dropped when she was twelve and became a genin. She refused to let it. Probably because she didn't know anything about being a girl let alone being a kunoichi. I am sure you can see the problem here."

"Not to mention," added Tsunade, "the crazy way all you kunoichi were behaving then. Everything Naruto saw, told her, girls were strange. She knew she did not like Sasuke but all the rest of you were crazy about him."

Jiraiya said, "But then she already knew she liked Kakashi by that time. So that probably had a lot to do with things also. She'd already been in denial for a year by the time she found out about the Kyuubi. And so when the Shinigami henge tried to dissolve shortly after team seven was formed and accepted as genin, she panicked and strengthened it on her own before it could completely fall. Kyuubi helped her."

"But aren't you just assuming he likes her? I mean, he doesn't even know what she's like as a girl. He doesn't even know what she looks like. And why would it have mattered once we became a team? I feel . . .used. . . lied to. I admit it. She should have let it fall when the Shinigami wanted it to. But she lied. I. . .I'm just not sure how I feel about this."

"Why does it matter how you feel about it? You aren't the one that was living alone in a run down rat trap of an apartment, vulnerable to every man who thought he needed or deserved a little female company for a few minutes to all night or a few days. You had a home with a parent waiting for you to return. Naruto had nothing. Besides if she'd have let it drop, you would have beat the shit out of her and told everyone what a fool she made of you all in the academy. She'd have never made it through the first night as a girl. Not intact anyway," sneered Jiraiya.

"I agree," said Tsunade. "Let's face it, Sakura. You weren't a nice girl back then. The only thing you saw was your Sasuke and truthfully that hasn't changed much. Back then you would have seen her as a threat to your future with Sasuke. Hell, she would have been a threat to your future with him but not because she wanted to be. He'd have done everything he could to attract her interest because she was never a weak little girl and she held no interest in him. Those two facts would have drawn that brat to her like a moth to a flame."

"Sure, you see Naruto now but only in terms of what he can do for you. When your Sasuke left, you needed a new protector. Everyone told you how Naruto had always been the one protecting you so you latched onto him. But you still don't _see_ Naruto," said Jiraiya.

She waited to see what Sakura would say. The pinkette opened her mouth a few times only to close it seconds later. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya knew what she was doing. She was trying to find one incident where she had ever helped Naruto just because he needed the help and not because she had wanted something from the blond herself at the time or that she hadn't used as blackmail later to get him to do something for her. Tsunade continued, "And that's why Naruto would never let the henge fall for longer than it took to strengthen it. She didn't believe she could."

"But then why do this now? I mean the window to rescue Sasuke-kun is so small. This could have waited until we got Sasuke-kun back."

"Because the window to save Naruto is even smaller," said Jiraiya. "And if I have to choose between saving Naruto and Sasuke's return, I'll choose her every day of the week. She is worth ten times what that little brat ever could be worth."

"Huh?"

Tsunade sighed and explained it to her. "She's been hiding. She knows she's a girl and she knows she loves Kakashi but by keeping the henge on she was denying herself the life she is supposed to be leading. She was doing a damn good job of convincing herself to lead a celibate life. She wouldn't lie to herself enough to go out with a girl but she also wouldn't allow her female side out to be with Kakashi or anyone else. And those lies were putting her soul in jeopardy. So Kyuubi decided it had gone on long enough. Either she will let the henge fall and admit who she is and how she feels to Kakashi or she will die."

"Die! How will this lead to her death?"

"Because if she won't admit it, she will use all her own chakra to power the henge until she doesn't have any left. Because of her seal, she will also use all of Kyuubi's chakra for it. Kyuubi will fight her every step of the way because the demon is determined to make Naruto face herself. But I don't believe Naruto can stand against both Kakashi and Kyuubi. I believe Naruto will give in and she will be herself when she returns with Kakashi but one word out of line from you and I will show you personally what hell really looks like. And as for going after Sasuke, forget it. She isn't going after that bastard again. Three times now he has shoved a chidori into her and three times is three times too many," growled Tsunade.

Sakura snorted showing she didn't believe them. "Sasuke-kun is just defending himself. That man has control of his thinking. He doesn't know what he's doing."

"He does know, Girl. He always has known," shouted Jiraiya. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "You need to understand, Sakura. You are really the only person on Team Seven that even wants him returned. Naruto doesn't. Neither does Kakashi and Sai never did. Nor did Yamato. For all of them, except Naruto, they would rather end his life than bring him back here. You're the only reason they go for the incapacitating blows rather than the killing ones. There's a reason why, on the attempts you have made to date, Kakashi has Naruto go up against Sasuke. He knows he'll kill him where Naruto will actually try to keep his promise to you," said Jiraiya.

Sakura was shaking her head. Tsunade said, "If it's not the truth, Sakura, tell me one time Kakashi ever said he wanted Sasuke to return. Tell me one time when he said he would let him back on the team. And though I can order a new genin into the team to replace an old one I can not order a jounin to take back someone who betrayed their team. Regardless of what you think, Sasuke did betray the team."

Sakura was desperately casting around in her mind for one such occasion but nothing was coming to mind. She could clearly remember when she had been talking to Naruto about it and reminding Naruto of his promise and cheering that she was getting stronger so soon they would be able to convince Sasuke-kun to return with them. But not once could she remember Kakashi ever saying a word one way or the other. Instead he would give Naruto a sad look that she had always interpreted as him missing Sasuke. After all, Sasuke was his preferred student. he had always taken Sasuke off for special training. But she also remembered more than once he would walk away and now she was seeing how Naruto's smile would always go a little dim and brittle. Now she was hearing how quiet he'd always gone and how his hand had always gone to the scar that was still there from Sasuke's first chidori attack. She had been pushing him. She'd been pushing everyone because she didn't want to give it up but they all had.

"But why? Why would they not want to return him and get that mark off his neck? Don't they care about him anymore?" She was near tears.

"Hai, they do but they recognize it was Sasuke's choice. Kakashi, because he put the blocker on the seal you claim is controlling Sasuke. Kakashi knows it isn't. He knows Sasuke made the choice to give in to it. And Naruto doesn't want to drag him home because he knows not only will Sasuke not stay here but he'll only stay long enough to try and kill Naruto again. Would you want to bring someone into your daily orbit you knew only wanted your death at their hands? But that's what you keep telling Naruto you want. You want him to bring Sasuke back so Sasuke can kill him. Sai and Yamato don't want to try and bring him back because to them he has never been anything but a traitor. But you have always put Sasuke above everyone else. It wouldn't matter to you if Naruto and Kakashi died so long as they got that punk back here first for you."

She gave Sakura a few minutes to absorb what she said but hurried on before the cherry girl could come up with her standard retorts about the new members of their unusual team. "You need to understand Sakura what makes a ninja a traitor is not the reason they leave the village they are sworn to protect but the very fact that they have left the village. If one were to follow your logic, then Kabuto can not be considered a traitor either. And I have never once heard you speak of bringing him back to the village or rescuing him from the effects of his seal and hai he does have one also. But unlike Sasuke's, no one put a blocker on his for him. Following your own logic how much more vulnerable was he to doing Orochimaru's bidding than Sasuke who did have a blocker placed over the bite? We didn't even know he had it until he left. So I want you to spend this time thinking things over. I want you to really look at things from a realistic point of view and tell me if it had been anyone other than Sasuke would you still be as determined to bring him back here?"

Sakura took the dismissal deep in thought. She spent the next several weeks just wandering around the village thinking and listening to things people were saying. She came to realize that no one ever spoke of her Sasuke or any of the Uchiha clan. It seemed to her she was the only one that missed him. She was sitting in the park thinking and listening one day when one of the women her Mother served with on the council came over and sat down beside her.

"What is troubling you, Sakura-chan?"

"I'm just thinking, Utatane-sama. Shishui said some things recently about my view of Sasuke-kun and his rescue from Sound and I am wondering if maybe she is right. I've been walking around the village trying to see if she is right or if I am." She gave the older woman a weak smile.

"And what have you discovered so far?"

"No one appears to even remember he's missing. They don't mention him or his clan at all. I don't know if it's because they forgot about him or what it is."

"Would you like to know? Are you ready to really listen now?"

Sakura looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Hai. I would like to know."

"They don't want him back, Sakura-chan. He hurt them. They," she waved her hand towards the market place where vendors were trying to attract customers to sell their wares, "gave him every consideration while he lived here, often taking a loss on products he showed an interest in and he took advantage of it more than once. He never had a kind word for any of them seeing them as being beneath his notice. If he walked by the vegetable vendor and the man had tomatoes out it was not uncommon for Sasuke to help himself to one and walk off without paying the man for it. A tomato here and there is not a big deal but when he does that three or four times a day it adds up and he always took the biggest and most beautifully formed tomatoes the vendor had. But this was normal for Sasuke. He did the same thing to other vendors. So when they heard he had left the village they were not surprised. Hurt, yes. Angry, definitely. But surprised? No."

"And after the kids, who chased after him, returned hurt, and some near death, the hurt of the people turned to hatred. If he comes back, they will not be for his pardoning. They want him to pay for what he did. Not so much for his attempt to kill your other teammate, though that does play a role in it, but for what he did to them."

"But it isn't just the civilians in the market place who don't want him back here. It's the ninja corp also. Anyone who is friends with any of the clans who almost lost a child or friends of Naruto's want only to know Sasuke is dead. They don't even feel as strongly about Itachi as they do Sasuke because they understand exactly why each brother fled the village. They know Itachi fled because he was a mass murderer. No hidden motives. No question marks. He fled to stay alive. Simple. Clean. Easy to understand. But Sasuke? Not so simple. Not so clean. Lots of hidden motive. Sure he wants to get stronger and kill Itachi but what then Sakura-chan? What does he want once he achieves that? He knows ninja history well enough to know he won't simply be allowed to wander back into the village and take up his headband again as if this last few years didn't exist. And most those people know full well, Sasuke wants to kill your other teammate before he goes after his brother. How do you think that makes them feel? Naruto was his teammate. Naruto took the time and the effort to get close to him. To try and befriend him. To show him a different path. And what is Sasuke's answer to that? He wants to kill him."

"As for the council's position, again you misunderstood what we wanted. We don't want him back as a ninja. He betrayed us. We want his head. We want to be sure his eyes don't go to anyone else. We want his bloodline locked up in Konoha or nowhere but with Itachi out there as well we can't guarantee that so it'll be enough for us to just make sure Orochimaru does not get Sasuke's eyes. Personally I believe Itachi will kill Sasuke before he allows Orochimaru to take over his brother's form. But that's just what I believe. Now do you understand?"

"But I thought everyone loved and valued Sasuke."

"We did. _When_ he was a child of the Leaf. When he took up his headband, we were pleased and hopeful that Kakashi and Naruto could work together to turn him off the dark path he was on but Kakashi was too immersed in his books, his past and ignoring Naruto to see Sasuke needed the contact with Naruto. That isn't to say this is all Kakashi's fault. Not by any means is it his fault. This was Sasuke's choice and only Sasuke's choice. It was Sasuke who shoved a chidori into Naruto-kun. Not the other way around. Naruto did not go for the killing blow. Sasuke did. That sealed his fate for the council."

"But you said. . ."

"I know what I said. I was wrong then. I needed time to step back and cool off. The grandmother and the woman I am rose to the surface while he was away. I found myself thinking about him, wondering if he was ok, if Jiraiya was taking proper care of him. I found myself threatening to beat the crap out of him if he corrupted the boy. Naruto was so innocent in the ways of grown-ups and I found myself very worried about that innocence while they were gone. It was. . .a novel experience for me. But I found myself listening to things people said and wondering how I could have misread the boy so badly. I found myself remembering too. Things that were reported to the council about him and the pranks he pulled and in retrospect I know those people he pranked got off lightly. I know damn good and well what he pranked people for and in every single case the prank was deserved or showed us a truth we needed to see."

"In short, Sakura-chan, what I'm trying to tell you is I was wrong and so are you. Do not make your teammate continue to chase the traitor to force him back. Do not seek your loyal teammates death to get back the one who was never loyal to the village, to your team or to you. Chase him to end his life, if you must. Seek your closure in Sasuke's death because he will never return." Koharu got up and walked away letting her words sink into Sakura's mind.

Three more weeks passed after Sakura had begun to think about whether or not she was as alone in her desire to bring back her teammate. She couldn't accept it though. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't see what Koharu and Tsunade saw. To her mind they just didn't know her Sasuke-kun as she did. They believed Naruto-Baka's lies about him because they didn't know any better. She decided that it didn't matter what anyone else thought. She knew Sasuke-kun was not a traitor. Not really. He just wanted better techniques and more strength so he could kill Itachi. And if he believed killing Naruto-Baka would give him an edge, then why shouldn't he take it? It was his right. But after he killed his brother, it'd be safe to restart his clan. Then he'd want to come back to her and choose her to help him. She didn't want him to become a murderer but in her eyes he wasn't any more a murderer than any other ninja was. But right now what was important was the upcoming fight and she definitely didn't want to see him lose in a fight to the Snake Sannin. So she wasn't about to give up on him. Naruto was stupid. She had no doubt she could convince him to try again. He was a true Baka and he had made a promise to her. One she had no intention of letting him forget. He'd promised to bring Sasuke-kun home and damned if she was going to let him weasel out of it just because he was too weak to do it. If it cost the idiot his life than so be it. It was a small price to pay for having Sasuke-kun freed from the Snake's control.

It had been six weeks since they had settled in the cave and Kakashi and Naruto spent more time laying in each others arms either sleeping or embracing. The urgent need to couple had receded slightly but Naruto was still fighting being the girl she was born to be. Every time she tried to switch back to the boy form Kakashi, with Kyuubi's help would engage her in intercourse until she forgot about it. Sometimes, when the need for food overwhelm all other thoughts, they stopped to eat and talk. And every time Kakashi tried to convince Naruto to be herself and let him be her man.

She didn't deny she wanted to but she stubbornly clung to the belief that the village would never accept her as a girl. Nor would she be allowed to remain as a ninja if she was a girl all the time. Finally, Kakashi got angry with her.

"Listen to me," he snarled. "I don't want a part-time girl, Naruto. I want a wife. A mate. I want you. I want you to give me my heir. I want you to come home to. I want you to run with when the children are old enough for us to take missions together. I want you in my life, in my bed, in my home, every day for the rest of my life."

"You . . .want. . .but," she stopped talking shaking her head stubbornly. She finished eating and rose to her feet to go soak in the small underground pool the cavern held. It was fed by an underground spring and led to a waterfall outside the cave entrance. He joined her choosing to drop it for now knowing she would think about it.

It took him another three weeks to convince her. He almost had her convinced after that day when he'd gotten angry with her. But then she'd opened the pack Tsunade had prepared for her. The women's outfits weren't all that bad but the undergarments was where she had baulked. One of the bras, well a few of them, showed either extreme bad taste or were meant to be a joke. The bras had started out quite normal showing good taste on Tsunade's part as well as being based off the male form. However, Kakashi was very sure Jiraiya was responsible for the bad taste bras. No real woman was ever sized thirty-two triple E for Kami sake. And when they got back to Konoha he was going to beat the tar out of the old man for that one alone. Finally when he'd taken all the impossible sized undergarments out of her scroll as well as all the embarrassing, for her any way, things for a more experienced female, he'd gotten her to dress in girl clothes instead of her jumpsuit but it took him two extra days to do it.

Two more weeks and she was feeling a lot more comfortable but she still wanted to be a boy more than she wanted to be the girl she was. Kakashi was patient, though. He had known from the minute he'd found out what Tsunade told him was the truth that it would take time to convince her. In the cave, she'd quit trying to switch her form, something for which he was very grateful, but that didn't mean she was ready to face the village yet. Kakashi waited until she was sleeping to summon Pakkun and send a message back to Tsunade. He told her they were making progress but Naruto was still holding back from a full commitment and he would not bring his wife, his mate back until she was fully ready to admit she was his woman. He told her Naruto was not fighting her form in the cave but if they left it she would so he'd stay here until he had her promise. He also sent the inappropriate underclothes that had wound up in Naruto's scroll.

Morning had brought the return message with the small dog that the Slug Sennin would handle the punishment of her perverse teammate and make it clear to him just how such garments would be viewed by a girl who had refused to believe she was a girl for sixteen years. Tsunade had clearly been angry when she saw the bras and crotchless underwear if the gouges in the scroll were any indication of her temper. Kakashi snickered as he envisioned Jiraiya trying to defend his decision to send those things along.

Naruto had made them breakfast and Kakashi had waited patiently knowing something was on her mind but also knowing until she found the words to say it she wouldn't be able to deal with the issue at all. That was one major way girl Naruto was different from boy Naruto. Difficult or confusing issues boy Naruto had just shrugged and dropped until he either forgot about them or they made sense. Girl Naruto was more stubborn. She refused to drop a puzzling thing.

Two hours later, he finally asked her what she was thinking about and she whispered, "Sakura."

That one word said it all. "Sakura is going to be ticked off. There's no two ways about that but you will not face her alone. I'll be there with you and she will not be allowed to hurt you."

"She wants me to go after Sasuke again. She isn't going to drop that just because I'm not trained right as a girl. Do you want him back, Kashi?"

Kakashi knew this was the crunch of the issue. She didn't really care if Sakura wanted the brat back. She cared that he would think less of her for not trying for the boy anymore. She cared that he might think she was breaking her word; her nindo. His opinion of her mattered a lot more than Sakura's ever had. He put a finger under her chin and raised it until he was looking in her green eyes.

"I want you alive. I always have. It's why I tried to leave you in safe places during dangerous missions. It's why I had you practice things I didn't think you'd get hurt doing. But I never wanted you to chase him. Not even that first time. If I had been in the village, I wouldn't have let you go alone even if they did make you go after him. He made his choice and he did make a choice. He isn't just reacting to an internal voice no one else can hear, Naruto. You're the one who should know best what that is like. The monster in your mind really is a demon. You really do hear another voice. Sakura only thinks Sasuke does. But if he is hearing another voice then it's only telling him what he already believes."

"He's tried at least three times to kill you that I know of. That's three times more than I ever wanted you to give him. If we do go after him again, I don't want you to risk yourself like that anymore. You go in intending to kill him or we turn the mission down. I value you. I value our life. I want our life together. I want my mate. I will not lose you to another girl's desire to be bedded by a traitor. And that's the truth of why she wants him back so badly. She wants him to bed her but she can't go to him because she knows she isn't strong enough for him to give her a second look against the girls Orochimaru can throw at his feet. And she knows her Kaasan would never allow her to come back and that defeats the reason she wants him to bed her."

"Huh?"

"She wants to be the new matriarch of the new Uchiha clan, Koi. As the matriarch of that clan she thinks she'll have a social position equal to his and Hinata-chan's. She believes she'll validate her Kaasan's seat on the council by claiming the Uchiha Clan seat as well. In other words, it a power thing. Power and prestige."

She thought about it and after an hour of thinking her beautiful smile broke free and she nodded. "Jiraiya tried to tell me you didn't value Sasuke but you were always training him and you were so angry when I didn't bring him back. . ."

"I was angry but not at you. I was angry with myself for letting the council to convince me to teach him that move. I knew he wasn't ready for it. But Gaara. . ." He shrugged. "I needed to come up with a reason to teach him what they wanted him to learn because they were threatening to take you off the team over it. They were angry because I wasn't teaching you to rely on the Kyuubi and was going out of my way to make sure you stayed safe in all our missions. So I let myself believe the move would let him beat Gaara and maybe if he saw he was strong enough to beat a kid he knew killed without thought or remorse than he'd back off and give himself some time to breathe; to live a little but even then I knew he wouldn't. But I was royally ticked that he used the move against you after I'd just reamed him for doing it at the hospital. And I was angry with Sakura for her unthinking comments to you about him. You never ever gave less than everything you had whenever you fought so I knew you'd given everything you had to beat him and that's all anyone had a right to expect. Especially someone like her who never worked for anything she had and took it all for granted while pissing and moaning about what she didn't have and complaining anytime I gave you your way on something."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. She twisted her lips wryly and said, "Truthfully I would have given up after the Valley fight but I believed you wanted him to come home so I kept trying but she seems to think he can be talked into returning. And words will never win him over. They never could. For him, actions have always spoken louder than words."

"You're right. They won't. He's a lost cause and everyone in the village knows it. Every time we go out after him, the people hope we'll return with his head in a scroll because they can't believe he won't just betray them again. Sakura is the only one that wants him home."

"Well, her and the council," Naruto said.

Kakashi shook his head. "Danzo sent Sai out with the standing order to kill Sasuke if he got the chance. That order still stands. Hiashi wants him dead for Neji. And Chouza and Tsume have the same motivation for wanting his death. Both of them almost lost a son to Sasuke's need to flee. Inoichi and Shikato are on Chouza side in this. And with Asuma, me, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Ebisu all telling them point blank everything you have done, forcing them to really see you, we brought the rest of them around also. They no longer want Sasuke returned alive. They do want to keep his eyes away from Orochimaru but even they know even if he does get them he'll only have them for three years. Then he'll have to switch bodies again and he won't be able to keep the dojutsu he gained from him."

"But you still have Obito's eye."

"Hai. I have it but it nearly killed me. I am not an Uchiha. At the time I got it, the clan was still alive and Mikoto fixed my brain enough for the eye to accept me as a wielder of the dojutsu. It. . . hurt. A lot." He shuddered in memory of the pain he'd gone through then. "But the point is Orochimaru doesn't have an Uchiha to make the correct connection for him using their own neural path and blood to do it for him so once Sasuke's body wears out on him the eye will be lost to him if it doesn't kill him before then. Hell for all I know Sasuke himself could end up killing the Sennin by tweaking things in his brain enough to force the eye into rejecting and killing the snake or into letting Sasuke control the Snake. And that would be so bad I don't even want to think about it."

A few days later they went back to the village. Naruto stayed close to Kakashi once they neared the village walls and he gave her all the time she needed to work up the courage to re-enter her home. He kept his arm around her knowing full well she was not nearly as confident of this decision as he was. They went straight to the tower where Tsunade was waiting for them. Tsunade did an examination to make sure Naruto was in good health. She left Shizune with Naruto going over female things while she talked to Kakashi.

He surprised her by asking, "So was Kyuubi correct? Is she already pregnant?"

"Hai. I picked up life signs for three but one of them might have been an echo. We'll know more in a few weeks but she's on leave as of right now. No way am I risking her or those babies and as near as I can tell she's already reached the end of the first trimester."

"And did you handle that pervert that sent those things?"

"Oh yes, I did. The idiot thought it would break the tension for Naruto. He never once considered any other kind of message those things might send for her. Nor did he ever once consider Naruto never found sex jokes all that funny."

"And Sakura? Naruto is worried about her. Well, she's worried as to how Sakura will react to this change and about Naruto not wishing to go after Sasuke any more. And no that isn't just because she's a girl. Apparently if I had told her after the Valley fight, that I valued her life more than Sasuke, I doubt she would have ever tried for him again. She only kept trying because she thought I wanted him back. Because she thought I'd think less of her if she broke her own nindo."

"But not going after him wouldn't have broken her nindo. . . .Would it?"

"Only in a round-a-bout way. She vowed at Wave to find her own way of the ninja because she didn't like the idea that her life was any man's tool to be cast aside once it grew rusty and brittle. Promises are very important to her and, though she never really said it, I think, she believes when she gives her promise to do something, even if it isn't possible, she has to do everything possible to make it happen. But truthfully her nindo is simply to find her own way of the ninja by believing in herself when no one else will or does because there is where you will find the strength to keep going despite the odds and come out on top."

"So yeah her promise to Sakura would be getting in her way now."

"Actually it isn't," said Naruto from the doorway. "I promised her I would do my best to bring him back when we went after him the first time and I did do my best. I never promised her anything after that regarding him. That's the thing about promises. They don't always say or mean what you think they do. Everyone assumed that promise was open ended but it wasn't. Nor did I ever promise her I would succeed in the attempt to bring the Teme back. I only promised to do my best."

"But you told her you'd try again," said Shizune.

"Hai. I did but I didn't _promise_ to." Kakashi began laughing. A few seconds later Tsunade was laughing as well.

"All this time we thought it was because of that stupid promise you kept going after him and working so hard on growing stronger," said Tsunade when she recovered.

Naruto snorted. "Not hardly. I worked to get stronger because of that group that is trying to capture the bijuu. I can't let them get Kyuubi. If they do then the world as we know it will end. Knowing that, Sasuke is kind of insignificant, don't you think?"

Tsunade blinked. "Hai. I'd have to say he is."

"I won't let Sakura go after him alone. She isn't strong enough to bring him back and the way he is now will only break her into little pieces but I don't want to chase him any more either. He isn't worth the risk of life to the village or the world that chasing him entails."

"Well, there will be no more rescue attempts," said Tsunade. "I was only waiting for you to give up before I order a search and destroy team to go after him. Danzo's little soldiers do have their uses. Besides you aren't going anywhere but here for the next few months. I'm even going to take Kakashi off active duty until you are ready for the field again."

"Huh?" Naruto tilted her head to one side the silky waves of her sunset hair flowing smoothly with the change of posture.

"You're pregnant, Naruto," said Tsunade. "So Kakashi is going to take some time off which he has more than earned and help you get set up for the birthing."

Naruto just stood there frozen in shock. She wasn't disbelieving of what she heard but she wasn't believing of it either. She was just frozen.

Three hours later, she and Kakashi were in his apartment. She was moving mechanically and he wondered just what was going on in her head as she fixed dinner for them both while he set the table. She came out of her trance and cursed.

"What?" he asked.

"Kyu just got done having herself a rolling good time at my expense. One day I am going to be in a position to royally kick her butt and she is so going to pay for her damn tricks."

"Um. . .you do know getting pregnant is a natural occurrence of our new relationship. Don't you?"

"Oh yes. I do know that but that isn't the trick she pulled. The timing of this was her trick. Damn demon deliberately planned this for when . . ." she blushed a fiery red Kakashi had never thought he'd ever see on her.

He grinned and lifted her in his arms to set her on the counter between the stove and the sink. Keeping his arms around her and leaning into her space he said, "Ah. I see. Well either way I am not going to complain. I have you now and even f you weren't pregnant yet I have to admit I would wish you were."

"But that group won't care, Kashi. And pregnant I won't be able to fight them. They haven't gone away or given up just because you, Kyu and everyone else decided I have to be me now."

He kissed her, nibbling on her lower lip to get her to open her mouth for him. She did and it was a long time before he answered her complaint."So we take care of you until you can fight again. It's about time we did don't you think?" He shut off the stove and carried her into his room. Dinner could wait.

The next day they went to her old apartment and cleaned it out. Sakura ran across them as they were finishing up the task. "Naruto!" she exclaimed. "You're back. So does this mean your vacation is over now? Can we start training to go rescue Sasuke-kun now?" She had looked straight at Naruto and Kakashi but she dismissed them both to find the Naruto she knew. She looked all over the small apartment before she came back to the main room. "Sensei? Where's Naruto? I thought the two of you went on vacation together and if he isn't here, why are you packing his things?" She seemed to realize what that could mean and her eyes widened. "Oh no. Not yet. He didn't keep his word yet. He can't have. Where is he Sensei?" Though Sakura had spent all the months they'd been gone thinking things over she still couldn't accept that she was the only person who really wanted the Uchiha returned.

Kakashi pointed to Naruto. "Naruto is right here, Sakura. But we aren't going after Sasuke any more. We won't be off vacation for several more months," said Kakashi, saving Naruto from trying to find a way to explain things to the pinkette.

"But. . .Sasuke-kun. . .why? You promised, Naruto. You promised to bring him home to me! I should have known you were nothing more than a damn liar, you stupid, worthless bitch." Anger overtook common sense as her world crashed. She went to punch Naruto and Kakashi flash stepped between them.

He caught her fist nearly crushing it with chakra as he ground out, "Do not ever insult my wife again. Do not ever try to hit her again either. Next time you do I will not hesitate to break your hand. Naruto did not lie to you. He promised when he first went after your bastard of a boyfriend to do his best that one time to bring Sasuke home. He never renewed that promise. You assumed he did because you wanted to believe it but he never did. Nor did he ever promise to bring Sasuke back. He promised to do his best to accomplish that goal for you_ because you aren't, and never were, strong enough to do it yourself_. And he did do his best. He damn near died trying to talk your boytoy into returning. But my wife is not that Naruto anymore and I will not allow you to treat her like she is. I will not allow you to belittle her just to make yourself feel better anymore. I will not allow you to demean her or force her into corners she doesn't deserve or need to be in and if you ever threaten my children again I will personally give a you a ride straight to hell." He shoved her captured fist away from them and pulled Naruto into his arms.

"What? Children? But. . .that's just. . ."

Kakashi held Naruto close to him with his hands over her lower belly and smiling behind his mask. Pride filled every word as he said, "Yes, Sakura. I said children. Naruto is pregnant with my children and so she and I will both be off duty for several more months. I will help her adjust to being the girl she was born as well as getting our home set up for the arrival of our babies and I personally couldn't be happier."

"But Naruto is a boy! He can't be pregnant. I know he was a boy. He had a crush on me," she wailed.

"Um. . .no. I didn't. You just had a very fragile ego and Sasuke liked to tear it to shreds for you all the time. I didn't like it so I did what was needed to make you feel better and hoped you'd grow to the point where I didn't need to do it anymore. I've loved Kakashi since I was eleven, Sakura. Not you or any other girl." Kakashi couldn't have been any happier if he'd just won the lottery over hearing her tell someone else she loved him. For him, it was the confirmation he'd been waiting for.

Sakura couldn't take it any more. She ran out of the apartment crying and Naruto and Kakashi teleported to Tsunade's office to inform her of the event and the words that were exchanged. Tsunade nodded and said she'd handle the girl for them.

A week later Sakura tried to waylay Naruto to try and force her to drop the henge. She had Hinata, Kurenai, Anko, Ino and Tenten with her. The women all tried to tell Naruto his prank was in bad taste and he should really drop it before the game got real women hurt. Hinata had used her byakugan and knew it was no joke or prank. She also saw the three small life forms in Naruto's womb. Naruto tried to tell them it wasn't a prank but they weren't listening.

"Kurenai-Sensei," she said just as Kakashi walked out of the store he'd gone into.

"Hey," he greeted the girls, placing an arm around Naruto. "What's going on?"

Kurenai put her hands together in the sign to break a genjutsu. "Either drop the henge yourself, Naruto or I will do it for you while Ino takes care of the spell you cast on Kakashi."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kakashi.

Sakura sneered. "Everyone knows Naruto is a boy but for some reason you seem to think he's really that girl and he's making a fool out of you. So I got the real girls together and we're gonna fix things. Then team seven will go rescue Sasuke-kun before it's too late. Everything will be better when the Baka is back in his place and Sasuke-kun will make damn sure he stays there."

"So this is your idea then because you can't stand the idea that neither Naruto nor I want to go after your boyfriend for you any more. He's already tried three times to kill Naruto, Sakura. How many more times will it take for you to give up? What does he have to do to convince you he DOESN'T love YOU? Sasuke has never once done a damn thing to make any girl think he cares for them because he doesn't."

Anko had moved behind Naruto and was settling into her stance preparing to beat the shit out of Naruto for playing this prank on the village. Without even turning his head Kakashi said, "Touch my wife, Anko, and I will feed your most deadly snake to you whole. All of you, leave my wife alone." He used a jutsu to remove himself and Naruto from the storefront.

"And you thought it was safe for me, Kashi. I'll never be safe here," Naruto said sadly.

In front of the store, Kurenai sighed. "Wife? Naruto really has him fooled. It's gonna take more than just us to break him free of the spell she has him under." Kurenai didn't even notice she had referred to Naruto as a girl as well.

Hinata tried again. "Kurenai-Sensei. It's not a lie."

Ino and Tenten heard her but Kurenai was talking over ideas with Anko and Sakura and didn't hear. Ino said, "Are you sure, Hinata?" The shorter girl blushed and nodded.

"With my dojutsu I can see inside the body. Naruto's pregnant with triplets. It's not fake. There's just no way to fake that. She really is a girl."

Tenten shouted, "Triplets!" and even Ino's jaw was on the ground. The other three women turned to them and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I used my byakugan." Hinata explained.

Ino added, "and I used my family technique. Kakashi isn't under a spell. He doesn't just believe Naruto is a girl because of some compulsion or something. Naruto is a girl to him."

Kurenai frowned. "I think we need to bring this prank to the Hokage now. It's gone too far to keep it quiet." She turned and marched off the rest of the group following her. For Kurenai if Naruto had chosen to pull this stunt on anyone except Kakashi or Asuma, maybe Gai as well, she would not have been as determined to end it but saying he was pregnant with triplets just to tie a virile man like Kakashi to him went way too far for her. Kurenai knew Kakashi wasn't gay and if Naruto was interested in him the only way the blond would get him was through a trick like this. And that she had even made Hinata's byakugan believe it just took the whole thing outside her realm of expertise to dispel.

Sakura smirked as she saw the anger in the faces of the two jounin kunoichi. She had already known Kakashi thought Naruto was having his kid but, because she had convinced herself Naruto was not a girl, she didn't believe it to be true. Hinata followed because she really wanted to convince Kurenai it wasn't fake.

The meeting in Tsunade's office didn't go the way Sakura had hoped it would but then she had believed Tsunade would not be affected by whatever prank Naruto was pulling on them all. However, it was clear she was. Once again, Hinata had told everyone it wasn't a prank. She had told everyone Naruto really was a girl and that she was pregnant with triplets. Tsunade had asked Hinata if she was positive it was three babies instead of two and Hinata had blushed but nodded. "There are three distinct life forms in her womb. And from what I can tell, she will have two boys and one girl but with that many as small as she is, I could be wrong about the sexes."

"So you see, Ladies, even if this was a trick, it's too late to end it. But I know for a fact this is no trick. Naruto is a girl. She always was. Kakashi just needed to wait, to claim his wife, until she was old enough and ready to be claimed. Now what is the real issue here because there is no way I am going to believe two jounin really thought someone like Kakashi, with an active Sharingan, could be caught in a prank of Naruto's?"

Anko looked at Kurenai who looked at her. Both flushed and blinked startled for a few minutes as Anko said, "We got duped, Nai-chan."

"Hai. That we did. Naruto has pulled so many good, high-level pranks that when she came and said he was pulling one now we bought it hook, line and sinker. It never even occurred to me that Kakashi would see through it with his sharingan."

"Hell, I didn't even think about the fact that he had the sharingan."

Kurenai looked at Tsunade. "So how far along is she and what does she need? After what we just pulled on her, we definitely need to recover some ground with her. So we will want to help her as much as we can now."

"She's thirteen weeks give or take a few days. As for what she'll need, other than support, everything as far as I know. And more than one of everything too. Because I know there's at least two babies in her womb. If Hinata's Byakugan says it's three then I'll believe her and say get triple what you'd need for a single birth."

Kurenai and Anko, Tenten, Ino and Hinata all grinned as they left to begin making plans and rounding up people to help out with baby duties getting the new Hatake clan set up. The women went to the baby stores and looked around at what was in apparent fashion this season for babies. The sales clerk asked them questions and they excitedly told her about Naruto and Kakashi and the triplets they were expecting. Even the sales lady got excited once they explained Naruto had been a girl hiding under a henge for safety until recently.

Sakura however was fuming. She didn't believe this. They were all going to let the Baka get away with his prank and it was going to get her Sasuke-kun killed. She had trailed the women to the baby store and heard them telling the clerk about the situation. Rage overtook her as tears came to her eyes. They had forgotten all about Sasuke-kun and he was going to die because they didn't remember the Baka was a Kami damned boy!

Kakashi meanwhile was working with Naruto to get his old house, where he had lived as a child with his father, opened up and habitable again. He correctly figured there was no way his small one bedroom jounin apartment would do as a family dwelling. But this old house would be perfect for them.

Gai came by the following week and helped paint walls while the women came by to take Naruto shopping for things for herself. Kakashi had begun to protest until Kurenai stopped him. "We know the truth now, Kakashi. We will protect her but there are things she needs to get that she doesn't even know she'll need and there is no way, as uncomfortable as she is right now, she would ever let you see her getting or know she even needs."

Anko added, "And we'll make sure she rests as well. The first twinge of hurt and she'll take a break."

Kakashi reluctantly let them go but only because he saw the Anbu were prepared to follow the women as well. He knew Sakura hadn't given up. He knew she was determined to make Naruto go with her to rescue Sasuke and now that Naruto was definitely showing her pregnancy she would do whatever she could to make Naruto lose the babies.

Sure enough the group of women ran into Sakura in the baby store. What the pinkette was doing there was a mystery to all of them but she was there and she spent the whole time sniping at Naruto for breaking her word and not being a real ninja. Naruto was at the emotional roller coaster stage of her pregnancy and it was all the worse because there were three babies instead of one. She heard every muttered word and it tore at her until she couldn't take any pleasure in the shopping.

"I do say you're getting fat now though. Always knew you were pathetic, Loser. Why the hell didn't you just stay gone? Everything was better when you weren't here. Everyone was happier without you around."

Naruto turned to leave unable to hold back her tears any more. Kurenai stepped over to Naruto as Anko prevented Sakura from following them all. Growling low in her throat, Anko told Sakura, "You know it's pretty damn low to call a pregnant gal fat. I'd like to see you carry three babies all at the same time. But then you want to lie with a traitor so who cares what you think. I think you're the one no one would miss if you disappeared for a few years. I think you're the one everyone would be happy to see the back of. Cause I damn sure know Kakashi would miss Naruto."

"Yeah now he would. He didn't miss him before. He didn't miss him when he broke his promise to return Sasuke-kun to our team. Sasuke-kun was the best of team seven. He was the one who pulled us through everything but that damn Baka Loser got all his credit for everything. That's why Sasuke-kun left. He just figured he'd go where his skills and ability would be appreciated and not handed to such a loser. But don't even try to tell me anyone missed that idiot while he was gone on his supposed training trip. I know damn good and well no one missed him at all and he didn't learn anything but this stupid genjutsu he put Sensei under." Sakura flounced around the stunned Anko and took off after Naruto and Kurenai. She caught up with them at the tea shop, Kurenai favored where they had decided to wait for Anko and allow Naruto some recovery time.

The Anbu swamped the place and prevented Sakura from closing in on the two women again much to her disgust. Anko came over to the table where they were all sitting and told Kurenai what she was going to do Then she went to the Hokage's office with the Anbu and Sakura. Once there she asked the Hokage point blank, "Can you get this bitch out of the village until after Naruto has her babies? Damn thing did her best to upset Naruto today when Nai-chan and I were trying to help her pick some maternity clothes out. She's getting a little tummy now and soon she won't be able to wear her regular clothes at all but this little thing had to go calling her fat."

"I'll see what I can do. Maybe there's a way station that needs a medic aide or something I can send her to or another village that needs help for a few months."

Later that afternoon a mob waylaid Naruto as she was on her way back home from the outing with Kurenai. The Anbu protection detail wasn't back yet from dropping Sakura off at the tower and Kurenai had gotten distracted by a belligerent drunk, leaving Naruto vulnerable. Kyuubi and Tsunade and Kakashi had all told Naruto not to use her chakra since the babies needed it to keep them safe but she didn't know how to defend herself without it. Crying inside because she just knew she was going to lose the babies, Naruto curled into a ball with the first punch and tried to protect her belly from the attack. Kyuubi swirled it's chakra around Naruto's womb as well and sent a brief flare of Naruto's chakra into the air to tell Kakashi his mate needed help now.

Kakashi dropped his paint brush and took off for where he'd sensed the flare. He wasn't the only one. The rookie nine took off for that location also. Due to Hinata, Tenten and Ino, word had spread and they were all planning a baby shower for Naruto when she got closer to her delivery date. The jounin, who knew Kakashi, were also planning their own celebration for him when the babies were born and they too took off for the location of the flare. Tsunade, and Jiraiya, who had just returned to the village from another fact finding mission also converged on the spot.

The number of people coming to aide Naruto out numbered the mob but it was still a bruised and heavily battered Naruto and Kurenai they found when they got there. Kakashi was livid. His sharingan eye was uncovered and he was literally tearing the crowd apart. People were flying through the air to crash into buildings as he threw them away from Naruto. Asuma, at seeing Kurenai injured and trying to protect Naruto, also flew into a rage and the group of ninja had all they could do to calm the two men down. Both men wanted nothing more than to tear the mob apart for hurting their women.

Tsunade was ordering Anbu to take the foolish drunk civilians into custody while Jiraiya held Kakashi by one arm and Asuma by the other. After the Anbu had the mob out of there Tsunade moved to Kurenai and Naruto's side. She pried Kurenai off Naruto and saw the girl was unconscious with a large purpling bruise forming on her temple. Immediately, she picked up Naruto and told Jiraiya to bring Kurenai and follow her to the hospital.

Three hours later Kurenai regained consciousness and told the story of what had occurred. She told of the drunk that had separated her from Naruto's side to allow the other drunks to get the girl alone. All Kurenai's questions were for Naruto's well being. She needed to hear she'd gotten to her side in time to protect her.

Ibiki was working to get a logical reason for the mob attack from one of the drunks. Not an easy task seeing as how he was asking why they were attacking girls in alleys and the drunks didn't think Naruto was a girl at all but finally Inoichi joined him and as Ibiki asked the question Inoichi read the answers from their minds.

"It seems, Ibiki, they were set up. A certain pink haired person let it be known that Naruto was pranking the ninja community and even the Hokage had fallen for the prank. This person said Naruto was pretending to be pregnant with triplets in order to forge a relationship with Kakashi and everyone was being lured in. The mob was given specific instructions that they were to strike her low in the belly to disrupt the prank because the core of chakra that was holding the prank in place, and fooling every ninja who came upon them, was based there. This person wanted the mob to cause Naruto to lose the babies."

Ibiki went to the hospital where Tsunade was fighting to save Naruto and her children while Kakashi paced the hallway threatening murder with every step for the mob if his wife and children died. Truthfully Kakashi had no idea what he was saying or even that he was saying anything at all. Ibiki waited, observing the people in the room, most of whom were keeping a careful eye on Kakashi. It was most unusual to see him this worked up but then it was his spouse in there and she was expecting his child. Children if he understood what had happened correctly.

Tsunade came out a few minutes later and told Kakashi to calm down. "Naruto and the babies will make it. Kyuubi protected them both. But Naruto will take time to heal. She can't use her chakra to do it this time since the babies need it to stay viable."

Asuma said, "But I thought it was the Kyuubi who heals Naruto."

"Nope. That's Naruto. Always has been. Where'd you all get the idea Kyuubi was doing it? The healing chakra is blue. Not red," asked a confused Tsunade.

"No one thought about it," said Kakashi. "People just wanted proof the demon was conscious so when the rumors started flying about how fast she heals they just took it as the demons work and let it go at that. But they'll be okay?"

"I believe so, Kakashi. Go stay with her. She's not awake yet so don't go waking her up." _Besides you'll settle down if you're near her. Sheesh. Talk about predatory. Damn._ "And call me as soon as she does wake up. She's gonna have one bitch of a headache from the kick to her temple." Kakashi was already moving as she gave him permission to go to Naruto.

"All right, Ibiki, what did you find out? Who do we crucify for this?"

"It was set up by a person with pink hair. This individual went into a low rent bar and told the patrons how Naruto was pranking high ranking ninja, including you, into believing he was a pregnant girl and that the babies were Kakashi's so as to trap him by his side. This particular group of drunks have been in trouble for hurting Naruto before and are well known for their bullying tactics but the individual who set it up told them they needed to strike the lower belly in order to disrupt the chakra displacement that was enabling Naruto to fool so many ninja. It isn't surprising these idiots bought the story. They would have believed anything she said. Naruto is, and always has been, their favorite whipping boy when they get drunk. Will Naruto lose the children?"

Tsunade shook her head but the look on her face said she wasn't so sure. "Naruto is very small. And it is triplets. Both she and Kyuubi did their best to protect the womb but . . ." She took a deep breath. "It really depends on whether or not Naruto survives the attack. If she survives, they will but if she dies, there's no saving anyone involved with this attack. Kakashi will kill them all before he dies as well. Sakura could not have done anything stupider if she'd have thought about what she was doing."

"You know it was her and not her Kaasan?"

"I know. She's angry with Naruto because Naruto chose to be herself rather than chase after Sasuke again for her. She values Sasuke a lot more than she values Naruto and she's trying to force things to go back to where Naruto had no greater purpose in life than to do as she wished."

"Then what are your orders Hokage-sama," said Ibiki. He had no doubt Tsunade was correct. The girl in question was her apprentice and if she said this was the work of the girl rather than the mother than he had no doubt it was. Besides he had serious doubts as to whether or not the elder Haruno would so callously endanger innocent unborn children let alone do so knowing they were reputed to be the children of the legendary Copy-ninja. No one was that stupid unless they didn't know anything of what made him so legendary in the first place. And as far as Ibiki was concerned the only people who didn't know that were still kids too young or inexperienced to have been privy to his files. Therefore it made perfect sense to Ibiki that it was Sakura who set this attack in motion.

"The civilians I want out of the village by sundown. I don't care who they are or what kind of work they do for us. No one we know of who thinks it is or was ok to beat on Naruto just cause she exists will ever be allowed to stay here again. Make sure it is clear to them they are never to return here. If they do they will die. As for Sakura, I am preparing to send her out of the village, as well. Some place where her spitefulness will not endanger Naruto or the village any longer. Pick her up and keep her detained until I have the assignment ready for her but do not tell either woman why she is to be detained and keep her isolated. Her vindictiveness almost worked. It might still work," said Tsunade.

"If they ask, just tell them she is getting a special assignment and needs to be prepped for it," said Jiraiya from his position at the wall. "If need be, I'll prep her ass myself for what she just did."

Tsunade glared at him. "There's no need for that, Raiya. She only did what she's done countless times before. She went out shooting her mouth off not thinking about the consequences since Naruto has never been seriously hurt before."

"That's my GODDAUGHTER in there fighting for her life," he roared. "I don't give a good Kami damned rat's ass if she thought before she spoke. She endangered not just Naruto, but those babies who never did a damn thing to her, Kakashi and, by endangering him, the village. If Naruto dies, you know damn good and well it won't make a lick of difference to him whether or not Sakura meant anything bad by her spite. He will raze this village to get to her and every single person involved in this act."

"And anyone he misses, I won't," said Asuma. "Those idiots hurt Kurenai also."

"Oh dear," murmured Tsunade. "Sakura, what have you done?" She watched as both Jiraiya and Asuma left the lounge followed by Genma, Ibiki, Iruka and surprisingly Shino and Shikamaru. She hadn't even seen the two of them in the room.

Shikamaru and Shino met outside the doors of the hospital. Shino looked at Shikamaru and quirked a brow. Shikamaru asked, "Sensei's or Sakura?" Shino knew what he was asking. He was asking if they would go protect Sakura until Ibiki could get her off the streets or if they should go try and calm down the Sensei's and other jounin who were going to be out for the girl's blood when the word spread.

"Sakura. She is in more danger than she knows."

Shikamaru nodded. "I'd say she'll be at the flower shop with Ino.

Shino nodded and the two boys set off hoping finding the pink haired girl would not be that hard. But everyone knew where she was likely to be and it was only a slim hope that they would reach her before the angry jounin and Jiraiya did.

Tsunade went back to the tower and called for the mission and way station duty rosters. Shizune came in and asked what was happening. The tension in the village was thick enough to cut with a knife and she was one of the few who did not know why since she had been away on Jiraiya's mission with him and had reported to the tower to file the mission report when the beacon had flared.

"Sakura got spiteful and endangered Naruto and Kakashi's babies. Now everything is hanging by a thread because if Naruto dies so will a whole lot of other people. I'm trying to find a place to send her that won't kill her as soon as word spreads should Naruto die. It's not that easy because Naruto has made a lot of high level friends with a hell of a lot of political power and pull. I thought about Wave since they are building a hospital but if they find out what she did to Naruto. . ."

"Yeah. Inari and his family would crucify her in a heartbeat. Sand is out for the same reason. Heck I think Gaara has just been looking for an excuse ever since the chunnin exams so long ago." She went to the large map on the back wall and looked it over trying to find one place where Konoha had a relationship and where they didn't know the name and/or description of Uzumaki Naruto.

Finally she found an almost forgotten way station on the back border of Konoha's lands. There was nothing there to guard but a strip of ocean front beach but once a small village had existed there. It was actually where the Umino family had come from before they immigrated to Konoha. So it was possible for small ships to land there and make their way inland to attack Konoha from the rear and for that reason they kept a small amount of ninja based there, rotating them out only when the thought occurred to them. Most the ninja there were used up and worn out but who had nothing else they could do with their lives. None were guilty of improper actions but none were acclaimed either. Sakura would be the biggest name to hit the outpost since the little sea port village it was meant to guard over had shriveled up and died. "Here, Tsunade-sama. Send her here," she told her mentor.

Tsunade looked over her shoulder at the map and pulled out a clean parchment. She wrote down the name of the outpost and the duration of the mission as well as the particulars and then asked for a team of Anbu to do the escort. She was taking no chances of her apprentice trying to run off or convince her fellow ninja to go into isolation with her.

Ino was listening to Sakura gloat about how now Naruto would have no choice but to stop his stupid prank. Once those false brats were gone the blond Baka would have to revert to his real self and she would make him go with her to fetch her Sasuke-kun home. Then the idiot would see what it meant to really be pregnant with a man's child. Because of course once Sasuke was home he'd choose Sakura as his wife and she would never fail in her duty to give him his heirs. Of course it went without saying Sakura would beat the crap out of Naruto for having pulled the prank in the first place and she didn't believe anyone would stop her once she proved it was all just another stupid prank. And then she'd beat Naruto some more for even daring to think she'd let him off on his promise to help her get her Sasuke-kun before it was too late.

Ino was having all she could do not to spit on the girl and kick her out of the shop. She was struggling hard to hold onto her own famous temper as she heard Sakura brag about trying to kill three helpless children. Shikamaru and Shino walked in on the gloating and fuming girls and immediately stepped in front of Sakura. Without even thinking about it Shikamaru took a hand out of his pocket and slapped the pink girl.

"That's for hurting Naruto with your stupid mouth. She's fighting for her life, the life of her children and your life right now because you're a bitch," he said. "Now shut up and come with us if you want to live. Ino, unless it's your Dad or Ibiki, tell no one you saw this thing today."

"She's in that much trouble?"

"Jiraiya-sama is looking for her. Naruto is his Goddaughter. As is Sensei. The attack hurt Kurenai as well. And because Naruto is Kakashi's mate, it hurt him as well. He isn't looking for her as he's too concerned with Naruto and his children. But his friends and Sensei's friends will soon be after her for what she set off. Then there are our friends and the civilians who don't see Naruto as worthless and are happy to see her being herself and with Kakashi-san. So a lot of people will be looking for her."

Shino added, "And that is not counting the people who don't care one whit who is Naruto's lover but do care about unborn children. Konoha has more than a few of them as well who will be out for her blood once word hits the streets."

"Where are you taking her then?"

"The tower," said Shikamaru. "It'll be the safest place for her."

Sakura really wanted to protest but somehow she just couldn't bring any words to do so into her mouth. If what they said was true she was in a great deal of danger but Naruto was not a female at all. How the hell could he ever be pregnant? It was just a damn trick. He was just playing a damn prank on the village again and as soon as it came time for her to deliver the babies they'd start to realize something was off when it dragged on and on and no babies were ever born.

A week later Sakura was gone to her year long assignment and Naruto woke up to find herself looking into Kakashi's worried eye. "Hi," she whispered with a soft but sad smile. "The babies?" She placed her hands over her belly as if she could tell whether they were ok or not just by touching.

"They're fine now that you've woken up. But you are never going anywhere without me again," he told her huskily, tears making a steady stream down his face as he leaned in to kiss her tenderly.

When they broke for air, he told her he had to let Tsunade know she was awake and asked if she was hungry. She looked around and grimaced. Hospital food for her had never been a good experience. "I'll find you something if I have to go make it at home and bring it back myself. Just let me get Tsunade in here first."

After that incident the months until her delivery went smoothly. She spent most of it in forced idleness since she was expecting triplets instead of the single child most women carried. And Tsunade put her in the hospital for the final two weeks until her delivery. Everyone in the village was holding their breath as it had finally settled into everyone's brain that Naruto, their most surprising ninja ever, had once again done the impossible. A little girl had convinced everyone, for sixteen years, that she was a boy and now she was to birth three babies all at the same time. Everyone knew there was a high probability that she and the children would all die during the delivery but there was absolutely no way it could be done any other way. Most women had the option of inducing their delivery or going caesarean but Uzumaki women did not have those options. Their chakra was too invasive. Induced labor would kill the mother as the doctors tried to separate the chakra between mother and child. But for the caesarean delivery it was the damn healing factor that was the issue and problem. They simply could not keep a hole open long enough to pull the infants free while they separated the chakra's. So for them there was never any other option but natural delivery. Even the pain medication were an iffy thing though for Naruto due to the Kyuubi.

And so when everyone saw the jounin known to be friends with Kakashi gathering at the hospital along with the chunnin and genin known to be friends with Naruto a palatable silence fell over the village. Everyone waited with baited breath to hear whether they would celebrate or mourn. Visitors to the village asked, and were told, what was happening and they too forgot about business. In the Elemental Lands if you were old enough to do anything as an adult you knew about ninja and the peculiar circumstances that surrounded every facet of their lives and bodies.

But in the hospital Naruto was alternating cursing both Kyuubi and Kakashi very fluently in more languages and dialects than anyone was even aware existed let alone knew. She did utter each curse in Japanese just to make sure everyone knew exactly what she would do to the Copy-ninja if he ever dare to come near her again with that weapon of his. It was very clear the pain drugs were not working very well but they didn't dare give her any more of it since too much would hurt the babies who weren't really trying to hurt their Momma. They just wanted out to see their Daddy as well.

Tsunade had put her into the hospital so she could use a jutsu to spread Naruto's hips for the delivery using her own chakra since Naruto's was unavailable. And now thanks to her foresight that wasn't really a problem for the small sixteen year old. But that was just about the only thing that wasn't an issue. Shizune was standing by to help her mentor with this delivery since they all knew it was likely to get very dicey.

Jiraiya was in the waiting room with Kakashi who was pacing the small space and looked towards the room in panic every time Naruto screamed in pain. He knew she had to be in immense pain just to even get a whimper passed her throat. He wasn't aware of his own whimpers whenever she did scream. Nor was he aware of how tightly coiled his body was as he waited for word on her. He wasn't thinking about the children at this point in time. His whole focus was on her. He knew if he lost her he would leave the children just as his father had left him. For the first time in his life, Kakashi truly understood why his father hadn't been able to stay for him. Hadn't been able to live for him. Now he understood why six years from his father had been more than anyone had a right to ask of him. Because he knew without Naruto he wouldn't make it a single day. She was his everything.

The guys waiting with him finally had to request a sedative for him as the screams came more and more often and closer and closer together. All of them understood and knew that though they would likely never be as connected to the Kaasan of their own children as Kakashi was to his, they would not be having fun in his shoes right now either. All of them knew it was more the feeling of being helpless that was tearing the man apart. Naruto had to do this alone and from the sound of it she was drug free too.

The first of his sons was born just as the sun was setting. His daughter came next two hours after his son's birth and by midnight the second of his sons was born. Nurses were taking care of the babies while Tsunade and Shizune tended to Naruto. Both of them were still working frantically trying to save Naruto. She was bleeding badly and her chakra was depleted as well. Her daughter has caused a long tear in the birthing canal during her passage being slightly bigger than her brother who had passed through before her. Kyuubi was working internally trying to mend it since it was the cause of the bleeding but without Naruto's chakra it was difficult to do. It didn't help that the demon was stone cold stunned by the amount of pain human women underwent to bring their children into the world. And some of these women did this more than once! Kyuubi was doing a serious reassessment as to her previously held belief that all humans were weak. Nothing that voluntarily went through that agony could ever be considered weak. No way no how nuh-uh. As she worked at the gash she concluded with the thought _but their menfolk now. They were still weak._

Naruto had passed out right after her first child was born, unable to bear the pain any longer. She stayed conscious just long enough to see the red tipped silver locks on her son before closing her eyes and drifting into unconscious bliss. Tsunade and Shizune got the bleeding stopped and cleaned Naruto up before wearily going out to tell Kakashi she would live and the babies were fine also. Naruto was still in bad shape and the amount of blood on the gowns of the two women testified to how close it had come but both were too wrung out and exhausted to notice the pale faces and horrified stares of the gathered crowd. For a fact it would be a long time before any new babies were born to any of the assembly. It would take them all a long time to forget seeing all that blood and hearing the screams that had ended hours earlier than either woman had come out to tell them it was over and all four would live.

At three o'clock in the morning the babies were awake and crying for their Momma but Naruto was still unconscious due to the trauma of their birthing so the nurses showed Kakashi how to hold them and feed them a nutritional bottle, explaining that it was not unusual for the new Mothers to sleep through a first feeding, as they fed the triplets. The head nurse commented on the fact that the two boys looked exactly alike but the little girl would look more like her Momma. She had no silver in her red hair and although her eyes were dark now chances were excellent they would change as she grew older.

As the day progressed Kakashi found his children to be the object of everyone's interest as people, civilian and ninja alike came by the hospital to ask after them and Naruto or to just stand in front of the nursery window looking at them in their hospital basinets. He was never far from Naruto's side though as he waited for her to awaken. When she did, she smiled softly and asked him about the children.

"Small, like their Momma but healthy. Two boys and one little girl."

Sakura had experienced a whole different level of the ninja life in the way station. She had gone there expecting to be respected for her skills as a medic only to find herself ignored and shunted aside more often than not. Though Tsunade had not given the details of the long assignment to the outpost base commander but Sakura just couldn't keep her bitterness to herself. Within a week everyone there knew what she had done or tried to do. And they were not as ignorant of who the people involved in this situation were. They knew Kakashi from their service days and they had heard of the exploits of the jinchuuriki as well.

As the newest recruit to their small staff the tasks assigned to her were often the most disagreeable and disgusting if not the hardest. But because she couldn't keep her mouth shut they relished handing them to her in larger quantities than they normally would. She found herself in the company of burn-outs who'd seen too much and done too much to continue with the normal ninja lifestyle. They weren't criminals or degenerates by any means but they were as close to being the living dead as it was possible to be.

They didn't hesitate to let her know in no uncertain terms they were aware of why she was there and what she had done. In very blunt words a first year academy student could understand, they told her exactly what they thought of her and what they would do to her should either Naruto or the babies not live through their birthing process.

During her year long assignment, Sakura had grown up hard. The men and lone woman of the station did train her. They beat the shit out of her to do it but she came back to the village a changed woman. She no longer thought about rescuing Sasuke because even a mention of the Uchiha had caused one or more of the people there to drag her butt out for practice or chores. And they hadn't cared if it was daylight or the middle of the freaking night. Nor had they cared if she was just in from a long session or fresh as a daisy. These people saw all Uchiha as traitors and they saw Naruto as a hero right alongside of Kakashi. In fact, to them, there was no bigger hero in the Fire Country than Naruto because she did her job without complaining or whining.

Naruto and Kakashi had named their sons, Sakumo and Minato and their daughter was Kushina but Naruto made it clear to Kakashi these were all the children he was getting from her and if he even thought of having more he could just go through it all alone because there was no way in hell she would go through that again. He had given her a huge sigh of relief and told her that was fine with him. He never wanted to hear her scream like that again.

For the first two months, she was on bed rest due to the blood loss and difficulty of the delivery and by the time Tsunade was willing to let her get up she was genuinely going stir crazy. Kakashi was frazzled also from trying to be there for her and take care of the babies as well.

Finally Jiraiya got them a wet nurse to help with the children. Both Naruto and Kakashi watched the woman like a hawk when she was around the children not willing to trust her an inch with their precious babies but willing to admit they needed the help. It wasn't until the woman finally told them her last name that they relaxed. She was a relative of Teuchi's and he had long been a friend to Naruto.

As for Naruto's personal enemies they never came after her. No one knew why but for some reason the Akatsuki just vanished one night never to darken the door of any jinchuuriki again. Gaara may have lost his demon to their goals and Yugito might have lost her life but Naruto was safe.

Sasuke and Itachi killed each other when Itachi and Madara entered Sound base to prevent Orochimaru from usurping the youngest Uchiha's body for his own personal gain. Kabuto and Orochimaru tried to tag team Madara only to find themselves outclassed. So they called everyone in the base into the attack and the eternal man was swarmed under. He finally was defeated by a six year old child with a rusty kunai. Too tired and worn out from defeating everyone else whom he had thought a threat he had let the child get too close to him and the child planted the knife in his neck slicing the blue vein that was visible under his very pale skin. The child was too young to know if he had actually struck a killing blow or not but in that location death is almost a certainty. During the fight, a fire had started in the base and now with nearly everyone dead, there was no one to put it out. Madara still didn't have the chakra to get out of the base before it blew up when the blaze reached the armory. Added to the sliced artery in his neck, the explosion finished him off. And so Itachi, Sasuke, Orochimaru, Kabuto and Madara all learned their final life lesson. A lot of high rank powerful jutsu and the chakra to carry them out doesn't mean shit against overwhelming numbers or a final child with a sharp pointy thing in hand.

Though Orochimaru and Kabuto both fell to Madara, both had been regenerating until the explosion. Kabuto from his bloodline and Orochimaru from his contract with the snakes but neither had recovered enough to get out of the base before the explosion and both died in the room where they had fought and fallen to Madara.

Sasuke and Itachi had fallen together in the corridor outside that room. Itachi, determined not to let his brother give his body to the Snake and Sasuke, determined to see to it that his brother did not survive him by a single breath. Sasuke didn't know it but in the final gasp of air to leave his lungs he received his final tomoe. His brother had always been his most important person and so it was logical that killing him would give Sasuke the tomoe. Unfortunately, that was knowledge no one would ever know.

And so it was that Naruto and Kakashi's children grew up without the unnatural shadow of powerful people coming to kill their Kaasan. Sakura saw the children almost daily in the village once they were able to run about an play but she never spoke to them. She was never mean to them but she just couldn't forget she had almost killed them because she didn't want to believe Naruto, their Kaasan, was a real female just the same as she was. That and the fact that she was never able to bring herself to forgive Naruto for what she saw as her failure to keep her promise and bring Sasuke home to the village. She blamed Naruto and indirectly Kakashi for Sasuke's death since he was the reason Naruto had gotten pregnant in the first place.


End file.
